Two Little Words
by TheOtherShin
Summary: Intended to be an AoKaga one-shot but I got carried away (as usual). Aomine and Kagami are engaged and are visiting the states for a week to have their wedding ceremony. Smut, sap, surfing, and Aomine's terrible English ensue. Rating will probably change real soon.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Okay, let's try again."

"_He..._uh..._hearu?"_

"No no, listen," Kagami said patiently, enunciating with exaggerated motions of his lips, "_Hello."_

"_Herao?"_

Kagami sighed, running a hand through his hair, "We've been at this for days, Aomine, you're going to have to be able to say at least some things."

Aomine snorted with frustration and crossed one of his legs over the other, having difficulty with the cramped space, "Well sorry if I'm not living up to your expectation; I'm not gonna learn the whole goddamn language in just a couple of days."

"I know, and I'd say A for effort if...I saw any evidence that you were making one." Kagami muttered.

"Why do I have to learn it, anyway?" Aomine scowled impatiently, looking out the window at the ground passing by, thousands of feet below, "We're only going to be in America for like a week."

"Exactly," Kagami said, "You want to be silent, unable to communicate, for a whole _week?_"

"I can communicate with you and Tetsu; that's all I need."

Kagami swallowed another exasperated sigh, glancing briefly at Kuroko, seated across the aisle from them, "If you say so."

He must have sounded dejected, because Aomine blinked and looked at him, and then one of his hands reached over and nudged Kagami's. Smiling slightly to himself, Kagami laced their fingers together, smoothing his thumb over the plain gold band on Aomine's ring finger. The promise; the enormous, terrifying, wonderful promise of the future they were hurtling towards together, at a speed neither of them could stop or even slow, any more than they could stop or slow the plane they were currently aboard.

When he'd proposed, he hadn't been thinking of anything except that he was glad he was kneeling, because he doubted his wobbly legs would support him, and he was glad he'd rehearsed what he was going to say, agonized over it, over and over for about a week beforehand. He'd still tripped over his words like an idiot, but he'd managed to get the question out in the end, albeit in a desperate, stuttering rush. For a long, nerve-wracking moment, Aomine had just stared at him, shocked into silence, and then...even more unnervingly, he'd started laughing, but held out his hand towards the ring clenched in Kagami's fist.

"Um...is that...a yes…?" Kagami had stammered uncertainly. They had been dating for about five years; it had taken two for their one-on-ones and casual hang-outs to morph into something more, something deeper. And though they'd shared thousands of heated kisses and touches, spent every waking hour - and most sleeping ones - together, and even lived in the same house, Kagami had still been extremely nervous about this whole ordeal. And it _was_ an ordeal. He hadn't slept a wink for days before working up the nerve to get down on one knee, and when the moment of truth finally arrived, he was sweating bullets and felt nauseous enough to wonder if he'd puke right on Aomine's shoes.

"Hell yes, dumbass." The fervent tone of voice alone had automatically ebbed a lot of Kagami's stress. He'd always enjoyed Aomine's voice - the rough, rich, low quality of it - it had been one of the first things to draw him in, hook line and sinker. He'd let out a low exhale, tension pouring out of him, and smiled up at his beautiful boyfriend, now his fiancée, before slipping the ring - the devastating promise that would change and shape the rest of both of their lives - onto his finger. And there it had stayed.

The new problem had then become their inability to have the ceremony in Japan, and after almost two months, and a lot of half-hearted suggestions and plans that never ended up taking off, Kagami had called up Alex and asked if she would help them arrange a trip to Los Angeles for the occasion. Much tearful squealing of "_I can't believe my little Taiga's getting married!"_ and "_Why didn't you tell me sooner?" _later, she'd cheerily agreed to lend a hand, and the three plane tickets she'd solicited for them arrived in the mail a few weeks after. Aomine had insisted the third ticket go to Kuroko, whom Kagami had to admit was a good choice for a best man, and once everything was in order, they'd set off for America, and the future, neither having any idea what they were getting themselves into.

The feminine voice over the intercom informing the passengers that the plane would be starting its descent brought Kagami back to the present, and he blinked to realize Aomine was resting his cheek in the crook of his shoulder, and he wondered if he was falling asleep. He was surprised he hadn't noticed him leaning against him sooner, but he supposed he had just grown accustomed to being physically close to him, touching innocently and not-so-innocently almost constantly.

He was more surprised that Aomine was okay with being seen this way in _public,_ but then...he supposed those barriers and inhibitions had been slowly loosening the stronger their bond grew and the fewer fucks they gave about what other people thought. He did catch Kuroko looking over at them, with the usual mild, impartial stare, and he thought he saw a hint of affection enter those winter blue eyes, a tiny smile lift his otherwise level expression. Kuroko had been immediately supporting of their relationship, right from the beginning, which was more than he could say for most people who knew about it. Kagami suspected he was just glad to see Aomine happy, but he showed he cared about both of them a great deal, often. He gave comfort or tough love, whichever was needed, when their inevitable fights got really bad, before convincing them to forgive and forget, no matter how they sulked and dragged their feet. He gave Kagami his blessing when he came to him, telling him he was going to ask Aomine to marry him, and then agreed to be their best man when Aomine asked later on. He'd been a pillar and a true friend, and Kagami didn't know if he would even be sitting where he was now without him. For that, he was grateful. Feeling his way blindly through his relationship with Aomine had been a challenge and an adventure, and he wouldn't have taken back one moment of it.

"We're almost there," he murmured, brushing his chin against Aomine's coarse sable hair.

He felt the vibration of Aomine's chuckle against his neck, and slowly he sat up straight, "...We've still got a long way to go."

.

.

"_Taiga! Over here!"_

Kagami looked up at the call, to find the familiar form of Alex waiting for them at the baggage carousel, and - a grumbling Aomine in tow, Kuroko trailing behind - he jogged over to meet her, a grin already crossing his face despite himself.

"_It's good to see you,"_ Unconsciously matching her English and coming to a stop, he barely had time to brace himself before she'd slung an arm around his shoulders and her lips were inbound, rapidly coming towards his own. Quickly holding up a hand, he prevented the kiss and took an evading step back, uncomfortably aware of Aomine's "what-the-fuck" glare burning holes in his neck.

"_Sorry Alex, but I'd have to have a death wish to let you kiss me in front of -" _

Alex, however, was not listening, and had laid eyes on his company, a gleeful smile exploding across the lips that had almost crashed into his a moment ago.

"_Is this the guy, Taiga? Man, I take back what I said about your taste; he's almost hot enough to make _me _jealous. If only I were ten years younger..." _

"_Alex!"_ Kagami reprimanded harshly, not that Aomine could understand what she was jabbering about...hopefully.

Switching gears and languages rapidly, Alex turned her beaming expression on a very confused and very wary Aomine, "You're Taiga's fiancée, Aomine Daiki, right? I'm Alexandra Garcia; nice to meet you!"

Aomine seemed relieved by the return to Japanese, probably not about to leap at the chance to demonstrate what he'd learned - or hadn't learned - about the English language in the last few weeks, "Uh...right," he said slowly, "You're Kagami's old master; I didn't expect…" he trailed off, and Kagami saw his eyes flit over Alex's ample chest; perhaps a force of habit of his when confronted with someone of the female species. In any case, it made the hair on the back of Kagami's neck prickle possessively.

Dragging Kuroko over by the arm, Kagami attempted to change the subject, "You've met Kuroko already, of course," he said quickly, "My best man."

"_Our_ best man," Aomine objected, crossing his arms, "I'm not the bride of this popsicle stand, dumbass."

"Well, _I_ proposed to _you_ so…"

"That doesn't make a difference! Besides, _I_ asked Tetsu to be _my_ best man, if anything - !"

They both broke off at a sudden, loud eruption of Alex's laughter, the beginnings of an argument dissolving as they turned to stare at her in unison.

"You two are too funny!" she giggled, "I'm sure there's never a dull moment if you're in each other's faces like that all the time."

Feeling rather foolish for bickering over nothing in particular in front of his childhood teacher, Kagami rubbed a hand against the back of his neck and cleared his throat, "Anyway, we should get our bags and head to the hotel."

"...So when you get hitched in three days, who's taking whose surname?" Alex chatted amiably as they scanned the metal conveyor belt for their luggage, ignoring Kagami's attempt to divert her attention from all things matrimony-related.

"They argued about that too," Kuroko chipped in quietly, giving Alex a serene half-smile and bending over to retrieve his small, pale blue suitcase, "For almost two weeks."

Kagami sighed dramatically, resisting the urge to hit Kuroko over the head. And of course the little bastard had kept track of just how long they'd stubbornly disagreed on the whole name business. For some time, just to maintain some semblance of peace, they'd maintained they would both keep their original names, but eventually, Kagami had bent to his unfairly persuasive fiancée.

"I'm taking Aomine's," he mumbled, shuffling his feet because he was kind of proving Aomine's point by admitting that.

"Hmm...Aomine Taiga," Alex pondered, then she grinned, "It has a nice ring to it."

Kagami dropped his gaze, before glancing at Aomine out of the corner of his eye. He remembered the idiot snickering and ruffling his hair when he'd eventually agreed to his wheedling and not-so-subtle suggesting (and bribing...the idea sounded much nicer when Aomine whispered it in his ear amid lingering kisses with their bodies intertwined, after all) and said that he would adopt his surname.

"Whatever your signatures end up saying, you'll always be my little Kagami,"he'd teased, but from the satisfaction and downright _smugness_ he was radiating in waves, amplifying his already humongous ego, Kagami got the feeling that he was pretty happy. And with one petty argument settled, Kagami had immediately started another, over Aomine calling him "little"_._ ("Two centimeters doesn't give you the right to call someone little! Besides, I'm older than you by almost a month!")

Alex was right; they really were in each other's faces all the time. But for some reason, that just reinforced their relationship, and brought them closer together, even after it tore them apart, however briefly. None of their fights - none of their tactless retorts, or slips of the tongue that were crueler than intended - were enough to divide them for long. And now nothing would ever be again.

TBC

_((So this was _supposed _to be just a cute, fluffy one-shot, but apparently I got too into it so I have to divide it into chapters and make it a full-on fic with actual plot. As if I don't have enough stories already in progress. Sorry I haven't updated in awhile...there was the con and a dead laptop preventing me from writing and such._

_-Shinsun))_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Kagami, for the last time, what the hell are we doing here?" Aomine demanded, jerking his hand out of Kagami's as soon as his bare feet hit the sand.

"Well we've got three days to ourselves before the wedding," Kagami shrugged, "I thought we could have a little fun."

Aomine's midnight blue eyes scanned over the beach crowded with bikini-clad civilians, and he skeptically folded his arms, "I'm not sure I like your definition of fun."

"Shut up, you don't even know what we're doing yet," Kagami grinned, snatching his hand and pulling him again. Aomine rolled his eyes and reluctantly let himself be led, stumbling over the hot sand until they reached the water's edge.

"We can't play basketball on the beach," Aomine complained, looking around as if trying to spot a hoop somewhere along the California coast.

Kagami laughed, "Obviously not; we'll do that later," he shrugged out of his T-shirt and tossed it at Aomine's head, "Ever been surfing?"

Disentangling himself from the fabric trying to engulf his face, Aomine frowned, and Kagami fancied he could see him digging his heels into the wetter sand in refusal, "Oh hell no. No way."

"Come on, Ahomine. Loosen up, it won't kill you." A wash of warm seawater crept over their ankles, receding just as quickly, and after a moment Kagami gave an exaggerated sigh, meeting his stubborn gaze with a provoking look of disappointment, "Alright, you can sit and watch then, scaredy cat. Go with Kuroko and get a popsicle or something."

Immediately, and predictably, Aomine bristled, "I'm not scared, asshole!"

Kagami staggered his eyebrows skeptically; a gesture Aomine had informed him made them look even more odd, "Really? Care to put your money where your mouth is?"

Aomine looked conflicted, a muscle ticking with irritation in his jaw, "Tch. Fine." He raked a hand through his hair in resignation, "What do I need to do?"

In a snap, Kagami brightened, and threw an arm around his shoulders, "Come with me."

Further up from the water's edge was a rickety shack sporting a fringe of dry palm tree leaves, which looked like it could be blown away with a strong gust of wind. A lanky, shirtless man with a fake shark tooth necklace, bad tan lines and bleached blond hair was handing out an array of brightly colored surfboards, speaking in a lazy cadence thick with slang.

Aomine looked something between puzzled and wary, scanning over the person the way one might analyze a rather unconvincing alien costume.

"And here we see the surfer dude in its natural habitat," Kagami explained in a teasing undertone as they approached the shed.

"Don't _you_ fit into that category?" Aomine muttered out of the side of his mouth.

"Not quite."

"_Some awesome waves out there, man," _the person drawled, as Kagami turned his attention to him, "_One for each of ya?"_

Kagami nodded and the man dragged out two boards, thrusting one at Kagami and one at Aomine, who awkwardly tried to balance the thing that was taller than he was, planting one end in the sand when his efforts seemed to fail.

"_A'right, later dudes!"_ The blond man held up a hand for a high five, and Kagami obliged him, whereas Aomine just scowled, and probably would have crossed his arms if one wasn't occupied keeping his board standing.

"You know you can go two seconds without looking like you're going to murder someone," Kagami suggested, dragging Aomine by the arm once again to the water.

"Whatever," Aomine sighed exasperatedly, hefting the unwieldy object under his arm "Now what?"

"Now just watch me and do what I do," Kagami shrugged, shooting a simpering smirk his way, "Oh, and try to have a little fun while you're at it."

Aomine's eyes narrowed, and he held up the board in his grip with an unnervingly cunning expression,"You know what I just realized? This thing is fucking perfect for hitting you over the head."

"You'll have to catch me first!" Kagami taunted, bolting a few steps before the depth of the water began to hamper his speed, Aomine hot on his heels. When it got too deep to wade, he shoved out of the water and onto his board, digging into the surf with his arms to propel himself forward. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Aomine try to copy him and mount his own board, his leg slipping off the first time and plunging him back into the water. Stifling a laugh, Kagami stopped paddling and waited for him, enjoying the familiar ocean lapping at his knees, the wide, flat surface of the surfboard beneath him, the clamoring of gulls overhead and the salty wind in his already damp hair.

By the time Aomine caught up to him, he had relaxed in the nostalgia and the lull of the tide, and didn't have time to brace himself before his fiancée reached out a hand and roughly pushed him off balance. With a startled yelp, he crashed into the water, and came up sputtering to see one smug if disgruntled tan bluenette glaring down at him.

"What was that for?" Kagami growled, stopping his board with one hand before it could drift away too far.

"For roping me into this," Aomine said lazily, trying to situate himself comfortably on the unfamiliar expanse he was straddling, "Now, I don't recall signing up for swimming lessons, so get your ass back up here. I don't know what the hell I'm doing."

"Bastard, whose fault is it that I fell off in the first place?" Kagami sulked, dragging himself back onto his board and flipping his sopping bangs out of his eyes.

Aomine's gaze lingered on him for a moment, but he broke the stare when Kagami blinked at him perplexedly, clearing his throat and looking away. He presented a magnificent, dark outline, contrasting starkly with the cloudless sky and turquoise sea, and, distracted, Kagami let himself bask in the view; taking in every glorious inch of bronze skin glistening with salt water.

"I get the feeling," Aomine muttered eventually, breaking him out of his trance, "That this is harder than it looks." His eyes were following the other surfers in the distance, zigzagging the cresting waves with shouts of excitement or boasting.

"Most things are," Kagami snickered, "I can demonstrate first if you like."

Aomine snorted, "You just want to show off."

"Maybe," Kagami admitted, already rowing away from him.

"Hey! Don't you ditch me, dumbass!" Aomine protested, chasing after him with shallow, frantic strokes.

"Then keep up, slowpoke!" Kagami shouted back, the grin on his face morphing into a confident smirk as his movements grew longer and more fluid, zeroing in on an upcoming swell, "If you can."

Rising to his knees and gripping the sides of the board, he crouched low like a cat, lining up with the burgeoning wave. As tufts of foam lined the surface and the board stabilized, he let go and stood effortlessly, shifting his feet and angling his arms like wings for balance, carving a jagged path through the froth. The wave rushed up beside him, climbing higher and beginning to fall, and he let its momentum carry him, riding it, racing it, as the white crest loomed, threatening to crash over him. Reaching out a hand, he skimmed it through the wall of water curving around him, gliding through the tube as the wave collapsed in an explosion of spray behind him.

He circled back to find Aomine, lowering himself to kneel once again and paddle, and he had a split-second to see the look of awe on his typically arrogant fiancée's face before it was quickly wiped off and replaced with scorn.

"Bravo," Aomine muttered sarcastically, "Now if you don't mind, I'm getting back on solid ground where I belong."

"Oh come on," Kagami objected, "Don't be such a stick in the mud; at least give it a try."

"No thank you." Aomine growled, "I'd rather hold onto what's left of my dignity."

"Asshole."

"Moron."

"Jerkface."

"Show-off."

"Coward."

"Am not." Aomine pouted - actually _pouted -_ trying to turn his board around and only succeeding in stirring up the water, "I came out here, didn't I?"

"No, you said you'd surf, and all you've done so far is canoe." Kagami pointed out.

"I never said that."

"It was implied that you would," Kagami pressed, "If you don't think you can do it, you can always be passenger on my board…"

The veiled patronizing statement got the desired reaction, and Aomine drew himself up angrily, narrow eyes sparking, "If _you_ can do it, I sure as hell can. I'm no one's passenger."

With that, he started paddling again with a vigor, still seething. Kagami followed close behind, curiosity piqued; wondering what Aomine would do, how far he would go. He thought it was a little far-fetched to think he would get the hang of surfing on his very first try, but Aomine had surprised him before, and what he lacked in experience he was making up for in irate determination.

He could hear Aomine muttering to himself as he struck out for deeper water, some complaints for being dragged out here against his will, some assurances to himself that there was no way this could be _that _difficult if Kagami could do it so easily.

Kagami knew immediately that Aomine was doomed to fail when he saw him catch a wave too late, wobbling unsteadily to his feet with the board still jerking and swerving, and immediately he was thrown off balance, clumsily slipping backwards off the board and collapsing into the water with an impressive splash. Chasing after the escaping surfboard, Kagami scanned over the general area of where he'd fallen, and after a moment a familiar blue head popped up, soaking hair plastered to his scalp. Treading furiously and spitting out seawater, Aomine fixed him with a murderous glare, as though daring him to laugh or say "I told you so". Kagami did neither, reaching out a hand without a word to help him back onto his board. However ridiculous his fiancée had looked, he wouldn't add insult to injury when he knew it wouldn't be received well; there was a time and a place for teasing, and he could sense Aomine felt humiliated enough.

"Not bad for your first try," he tried instead, flashing him a grin.

Aomine grit his teeth, and Kagami swore he saw color riding high on his cheeks, but whether it was anger, embarrassment, or sunburn, he couldn't be sure. "Don't patronize me," he snapped, "I sucked."

Kagami bit his lip, and then shrugged, "Yeah, you did, but there was no way you were going to get it perfect when you've never done it before."

Aomine looked away, shaking excess water from his hair, "Well, are you satisfied now?"

"You don't want to try again?"

"Hell no." Aomine growled, crossing his arms over his bare, dripping chest, "I'll just land ass-first in the water again."

Leaning over, as far as he dared before he risked flipping his board over, Kagami lightly brushed his lips against one heated cheek, "Are you sure?"

Aomine opened his mouth to speak, but in the end he just sighed, much of the hostility and rigidness leaving him as he slumped slightly in defeat, "Fine."

He failed miserably. Of course, Kagami could have predicted as much, but he did have to admire Aomine's sudden refusal to give up, no matter how many times he found himself flailing in the water and coughing up seaweed, probably with half the ocean up his nose. But, even bolstered by the little kiss he'd been given, eventually he reached his limit, and after being swallowed by yet another hungry wave, the sun starting to dip into the horizon, he seemed to be ready to call it quits again.

"I'm fucking tired," he groaned, hanging off his board by his arms, the lower half of his body still in the water, "Maybe I'll try again some other time, but I sure as hell don't seem to be getting any better."

"That's not true," Kagami encouraged, "Your balance is improving; you stayed on for almost a minute back there…"

"And then I choked on enough water to fill a bathtub," Aomine muttered. He held up his left hand, which was clenched in a fist, opening it to reveal the ring Kagami had given him, "And my ring slipped off."

Kagami's throat closed for an instant, thinking of that precious golden band sinking into the depths of the Pacific, unretrievable. He was thankful for Aomine's sharply honed reflexes that had saved it.

"Alright, we can call it a day," he conceded, taking the hand in his own and guiding the ring back onto Aomine's finger. Hauling his fiancée up onto his board, he leaned down and kissed the top of his head, "Can I just show you something, though? Before we head back?"

Aomine raised an eyebrow, "What's that?"

They had drifted into shallow water by now, gently being rocked by the tide, and Kagami glanced at the twilit beach that had more or less emptied, and then scooted back on his surfboard, making an inviting motion at the space in front of him.

Immediately, Aomine's expression turned skeptical, but Kagami cut him off before he could speak, holding out a hand, "Just trust me."

The bluenette hesitated, and then reluctantly took the hand, letting himself be pulled off his board and onto Kagami's.

"What do I need to do?" he asked gruffly, repeating his question from before.

"Nothing, just enjoy the ride," Kagami said simply, turning them around and starting to head back out to sea.

"Won't the other board get lost or something?"

"Don't worry about it; the tide will carry it in and we can get it back before we go."

Aomine frowned at him, "I already told you, Bakagami, I'm no one's passenger."

"Yeah, I know."

For a while, neither of them said anything, and there was just the sound of the crashing waves and the yelp of the gulls overhead. Kagami wanted to let the moment stretch out, just floating here with his love, with the warm sea and the pleasant breeze, but they were losing daylight, and unless they wanted to walk back to the hotel in the dark, he supposed he should get on with it.

"Alright, you might want to hold on," he said softly, steering them towards a bulge forming in the water that had been dyed violet with the setting sun.

"Why? What're you -" Aomine looked back at him, maybe with a flash of nervousness, but then just clamped his mouth shut and did as he was told, gripping onto the prow of the board in front of him.

Crouching low, Kagami checked their position, trying to time it perfectly, and as the wave started to prowl up before him, he veered alongside it, the board dipping and swerving fluidly as he rose to his feet, chasing the crest, plunging as the wave stacked up beside them, overtaking them as it started to bend. He saw Aomine look up at the clear arc of water tumbling down around them, their own personal passage through the monstrous, yawning wave, and watched his jaw slowly drop. Soaring through the beautiful tube, towards the sunset greeting them on the other side, Kagami trailed a hand through the water, flicking some of it at his fiancée teasingly and smirking when his head whipped around in surprise. He rode the wave until it fizzled out, crumbling into froth behind them.

As he lowered himself once again and just let them drift, the silence endured, and it felt pleasant, amiable, so Kagami didn't feel compelled to break it. After a moment, Aomine leaned back slightly, placing the back of his head against Kagami's chest, and Kagami rested his chin on top of his hair, loosely wrapping his arms around his waist when he didn't hear a complaint. Distractedly, Aomine took one of Kagami's hands in his, studying their intertwined fingers, and then he chuckled softly.

"We're turning into raisins," he observed, holding up the linked hands for Kagami to see. The pads of their fingers had indeed turned wrinkled from spending so much time in the water, and for a second or two they just stared in silence...and then, simultaneously, they both cracked up, subsiding into helpless laughter, shaking against each other, until neither could remember what was so funny anymore.

Wiping a tear of mirth away from his eye, Kagami shifted and leaned his chin instead on Aomine's shoulder. _I'm going to marry this man,_ he reflected, unable to hold back a contented smile, nuzzling against his perfect fiancée's salty, tan skin as the last sliver of the sun was swallowed by the sea.

TBC


End file.
